conclusion that could be much more threatening than it looks today. >> thanks very much. i'm jim sciutto. thanks very much for watching today. erin burnett outfront starts right now. breaking news, smoke billowing from a chemical plant outside of houston. a dangerous new category three hurricane gaining strength at this hour. is it headed for the u.s. and the gulf coast? an outfront exclusive report this hour, these results are shocking, you will see them only here. another long-time confidant of the president, closest to trump for the decades out tonight. is it because of john kelly? let's go out front. >> i'm erin burnett. outfront tonight the breaking news you see on your screen. moments ago fire and thick black smoke breaking out at this chemical plant. it is in crosby, texas.

crosby is in hard hit harris county. it is of course the same county as houston, about 25 miles east of downtown. that same plant was hit by a fire and explosion on thursday after floods knocked out power supplies needed to run the refrigerators that actually can cool these chemicals. the smoke was not a serious danger to people yesterday. but locals were evacuated for one-and-a-half miles around the plant. the fire that you're looking at right now, as you see that black smoke, it is much bigger and more intense cht we h have much more on that in a moment. we are also following the breaking news on a new major hurricane tonight, hurricane irma, a major category three storm right now and it will get a lot bigger. it is intensefying. the satellite picture captured irm and what remains of harvey. it has the potential to hit the

mainland as a major storm. possibly bigger and stronger than harvey. it could make land fall in florida or even crossing the gulf and plowing into the disaster left behind by harvey. many storm paths terrifying. joining me on the phone, obviously, still issues with communications with the ka trdir there. what do we know about this plant and the explosion? this smoke is -- this isn't just regular chimney smoke, this is black, thick stuff. >> yeah. there is 500,000 pounds of the organic per rox ied in this plant cht plant. as you noted yesterday, part of the plant burst into flames. 15 deputies with harris county were in the maplant at the time. they had to be treated at the

hospital. it causes an irritant. they were not badly injured, but the plant out of an abundance of caution has instituted a one-and-a-half mile exclusion zone out of the plant. it suffered six feet of water. it is not the water that has set off these chemicals. it is the lack of refrigeration. the power went out in the mapla and this is something officials at the plant thought would happen in the days ahead. they knew that this was a very likely event that would happen, and it is happening. the chemical safety board has started an investigation into the first explosion, and this one is being watched very carefully as well. it is not clear how long this will burn or if it will spread to other areas of the plant. but this is why they have this explosion zone, this one-and-a-half mile zone around the plant in the event that it is catastrophic situation.

this is the petro chemical oil area of the country. there are many, many of these plants in this storm and the issues raised not only with the flooding but with the power and everything that comes with these storms is being looked at by many, many agencies right now that the environmental protection agency watching very carefully what's happening here. but this, unfortunately, is oftentimes what happens in these sort of major disasters where you have water rising over many, many days and it can be a slow, sort of unfolding disaster. this may be just one of many days that we see of this. erin? >> all right. thank you very much. as we get more, we'll go back to miguel here on the scene. i want to go to one of the top officials here. it includes houston and the fire at the plant you are looking at right now. the sheriff is back with me. and let me get to the breaking news here. obviously, we see that black,

thick smoke coming from that chemical plant. there was a fire yesterday. this one of course is much bigger than that one. you have crews there. what is causing this? do you know? what exploded? >> well, we have nine containers there, boxed containers there that contain this organic peroxide. we knew eventually we would have these ruptures. we experienced the first one yesterday. this is now the second one and we anticipate more, at least seven. as you mentioned, that's why we have that exclusion zone for a mile and a half now. >> seven more. it's foul. it's black. it's noxious. i know 15 of your deputies were taken to the hospital after inhaling that. how are they tonight? how are the officers doing? >> they were fine.

fortunately, thank god, they were released later that morning. and, so, we're happy that they're doing well. and, you know, we're still continuing to monitor the situation. we're working very closely with our fire professionals near the scene and assessing everything and we have all the top experts trying to determine what our next steps if any we need to do. we need to take a defensive posture and allowing these containers to burn. we thought that would be the best option and that's what we're trying to do at the moment. ours is more of a public safety police function we have regarding the general area and the fire professionals are handling the fire and the chemical issue. >> when you talk about public safety, obviously these are chemicals and a massive plant. the fire is black and thick and looks noxious. our executive from that plant was actually asked about that smoke and whether the smoke is toxic. the answer was certainly not one to be proud of from a public

relations perspective. i just want to play it, though, to get your response to the facts, the allegations here. let me play it. >> nontoxic or can you not say that? >> it is noxious. >> you are not able to say that any of this is nontoxic? >> toxicity is a -- >> so you can't say it? either you can say it or not. i think it's a pretty important -- >> the smoke is noxious. it's toxicity is a relative thing. >> using a scientific distinction here, but a distinction without a difference to the public that you are trying to protect. are you concerned with what's going into the air right now? >> well, i mean, there is always a concern. and the images obviously are very troubling. so that is a concern. but i feel confident in talking to the fire marshall since the chief is there. trust him a great deal. he's very experienced. and they have been in

communications and deliberations with them from the beginning on this. i have to go with what our professionals are saying and we're working closely with them. if anything changes we will definitely adjust our plans. but not sure about what they are mentioning. i can't really speak to their statement. >> no, i understand. sheriff, though, as our reporter pointed out, you're standing at the epi center at the petro capital of the united states. you have refinerierefineries, c plants. you have oil coming in. you have a lot of old super fund sites. are you concerned at this point that there could be more massive, toxic fires or leaks? >> you're correct. we have a lot of critical infrastructure here. we cover over 1,700 square miles. we're the third largest in the country. but beyond this, we have not heard of any other facility compromised in any way or any other issues at this point.

we have our industrial team with the sheriffs office and other administrative partners and regulators that we communicate with, so we do not have other concerns at this time. >> all right. sheriff, i appreciate your taking the time, talking to me again. thank you, sir. >> thank you, erin. >> and joining me on the phone now is sam, a professor of chemical engineering at texas a&m. he did a study on all the chemicals in the area. now so much of it underwater. sam, can you answer, i guess, the crucial question here of how hazardous is this explosion? when you see this black smoke, how concerned are you? >> so i am concerned, but i don't think it is something of the order of magnitude of the west explosion or the whole west scenario. but it is a matter of concern. and the thick black smoke you see coming out, it primarily

contains the product of combustion. but depending on how incomplete the combustion is and the darkness of the blackness of the smoke indicates that there is some incomplete combustion. so because of that, some of the chemicals are getting in the air. and my hope is, and i have to assume that they're getting dispersed properly. but if people get exposed to it over longer periods of time, there can be health affects. whether or not they're going to be reversible or irreversible health effects, we'd have to dig deeper into it. >> that's what i think is really terrifying for people to hear. when you look at this, you think more broadly about other chemicals leaking into the water in houston. but in this case, they have evacuated people within a mile and a half of the chemical plant. that's even as they said don't worry about it.

they did evacuate. you are saying this is going into the air, and it sounds like we don't know how dangerous it is. should they have evacuated a broader area or are you confidence one-and-a-half miles is enough? >> only time will tell if that's the right decision. but again i have to assume that one-and-a-half mile radius was picked on the basis of some calculations that took into account explosion over pressures, shockwaves, as well as the concentrations they might see at that distance after dispersion has taken place. clearly, the resolve is uncertainties with those calculations. but usually people make those determinations on a conservative basis, so you are always on the safe side. i am hoping that is the case in this case. but it is not something that we should just treat as something we should not be concerned

about. clearly, we should be concerned about it and there are seven other tanks that are there with significant quantities of the material. they will also burn sooner or later. and right now, the plant or anyone else doesn't have any other options but to let it burn and hopefully the consequences will be limited to this type of explosion. >> okay, all right. thank you very much, sam. i appreciate your time and seven more of those explosions to come at least just there. and this comes as another hurricane is intensefying over the atlantic. right now it is a category three, but it is still very far away. it coalessed into a storm and could pose a major threat to the united states. alison, we're talking about irma here. what do you know about it? >> we know right now it is a very strong hurricane as it stands. but it's also in the middle of nowhere.

so the question really is where does it go from here? right now you are taking a look at irma. it is not really around land of any kind. still well away from the caribbe caribbean. here's a look at the current statistics. right now a category three storm. winds around 120 miles an hour, moving west at about 13 miles an hour. but as we take a look at the track, you'll notice that it is going to start to take a more southerly turn pretty soon. now, the reason it does that is it is going to have a height. it will block it pushing it south. but in doing so, it will end up getting into slightly warmer water. this allow the storm to strengthen even more, perhaps into a category four storm, if not potentially stronger. that's really the short term. the ultimate question is what does it do in the long term. so let's take a look at what some of the models are kind of spitting out for this, per se. we take the top two models we have. as it treks across the atlantic,

coming in towards the caribbean, both models have consistent tracks. it is once we get towards the bahamas, that's when they split. this is the american model. it keeps it further away from the u.s., hugging a little closer towards bermuda. but the european model actually treks further west, pushing showers and thunderstorms towards florida and even maybe skirting along the north carolina and south carolina coast. now you are talking 7 to 10, even 12 days out. we will keep a close eye on it in the coming days. >> all right, alison. of course everyone's eyes are on this after the catastrophe in houston. next, in teour exclusive te in. we went out, tested the toxic flood waters. what is in them? you are going to see them just

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results came in just a few minutes ago. elizabeth cohen is out front live and elizabeth break the news here. you were out yesterday. i know you collected samples of the flood water. you have gotten these results back and what is in it? >> unfortunately the numbers are stunningly high. talking about bacteria, especially fecal bacteria. when we looked at e.coli, the numbers in our first sample, we took three in a small area, 8,600 cfus, 3,700 in the second sample, 6,300 in the third. the epa standard for recreational waters is zero. you are not supposed to have any. now let's look at total cola form. the first was 5 ,000. the second 43,000.

the third sample 45,000. the epa standard tells us the standard is less than 100. so as you can see these numbers are much, much higher than that. now, the lab manager at the lab said these numbers are huge. he said we do water testing every day. that's what we do. he's never seen numbers like this in water publically accessible. it is not just fecal matter, but these numbers are an indication there could be something that is the flesh eating bacteria. he's really worried about the people that waded through this water. >> that is terrifying because we know what that can do. you are saying they are worried about the possibility of flesh eating bacteria, that people could have been exposed to that. what does this mean for people in the flood waters? because that is hundreds of thousands of people have been in

that water. >> right, exactly. so the concerns are on two levels. first of all, i have seen it, people are out in the water and inadvertent lly splash around a water can get in your nose and mouth. that can be dangerous for people who are fragile or who have immune issues. for most of us you will get diarrhea and it will go away. for other folks, it could be a problem. if you have a cut large enough and it gets in there and you don't clean it out quickly, that could be a serious infection. >> right. of course with the flesh eating bacteria, that is obviously with horrific outcome. that's the risk, too, of that. it can get in any kind of cut. >> right. and that could be even -- that would be even for a healthy person. even if a healthy person gets that in a cut in their flesh and they don't cut it out soon enough, that could be deadly. >> thank you very much.

very sobering results here. i want to go to the former fema administrator from 2005 to 2009. you oversaw the fema recovery efforts in katrina. you just heard these results. this stuff is toxic and foul. there could be flesh eating bacteria, which as we know for incredibly healthy people can result in horrific outcome. how worried are you when you hear these results? >> very much so. this is really, really nasty water. and it's very difficult for people not to be in it because it is so much flooding. but as much as possible, they need to stay out of the water if they can. don't get it on your hands. if you do, try to wash off and get clean. it countld be some terribly nas infections. there's a lot of other stuff in this flood water that can be very harmful to you and your

family. >> and we're looking at these images. people are walking in it. people are diving under it to try to retrieve things. people are in this water. that's the reality here. the first study for e.coli, 8,600 forming units. the standard is zero. and for coliform, 54,000. on that basis, they are all the same. what can people do given this? this isn't going anywhere for weeks, if not months, for many people. >> yeah. they just need to stay out of the water as much as possible. i know that's hard. it is very hard because there is flooding everywhere. but you can get really, really sick or have a terrible infecti infection. there is a lot of materials out there people are cutting cut and hurt. we have more injuries and deaths

and the fatalities in the aftermath of a hurricane than we do during the storm itself. people get tired. they are not thinking clearly and they do things they probably shouldn't do as tired as they are. >> the contamination can be so bad that protective gear won't work. i'm talking about first responders, people who are risking their lives to two out there, that really isn't really fully protection, right? >> if they have a full tyvek suit, the answer would be yes. that's not happening here. there's too many people and too many responders. so the first responders need to know what's in this water so they can take precaution to take care of themselves. >> i hope they do know because as you heard the people who did the testing said they have never seen water like this in their lives and they do this every

day. i want to ask you, if i can, about the response thus far. flood water is still going up. you can have more people die after the hurricane where we are now than you did during. so this is a crucial time. the retired general, i know you know him. he oversaw relief efforts. he said the response to harvey was amateur hour. last night he said some of the failings include how many military on the ground. here he is. >> i do think we need to scale up. we don't have enough troops here and we don't have enough on the way. i beg to be wrong. and let the politicians be right. but i don't see the world the way they see it. i see it through riding around this state, 18 hours a day for the last three days. >> you heard him going around 18 hours a day. could he be right that it is amateur hour? is he seeing something that maybe others aren't?

>> yeah. i respectfully disagree with him. he's a good man. had a great military career. but i see things a bit differently. i see a great amount of coordination between the federal government, the state and the local that we just simply didn't have in katrina. we have a state emergency management system in texas, one of the best in the country. we have thousands and thousands of national guards on the ground. we have the coast guard, marines there. fema has thousands and thousands of people on the ground. plus, all of the neighbors helping neighbors, people that came in across the country, bringing in boats and getting people out. i think it's been a big effort. nobody is patting themselves on the back. this is a huge event and very tragic. but for the size of this event, what i see and the coordination i see and i have been probably more hurricanes than anybody else in this country, and i'm telling you i'm very pleased at what i'm seeing.

i'm not pleased with what happened and i'm not pleased with what's happened to people's homes and their families and lives. but as far as the response and people moving in, i think it is great. we did use north com during hurricane katrina. but it was not a mass amount of helicopter flying everywhere. it was transporting people from hospital to hospital. so it's a different scenario than what i think he is seeing and again i'm very respectful for him. he's been a good friend, but i think we're doing very well considering the enormity of this event. >> all right. well, i appreciate your time. thank you so much. and next yet another white house staffer, this one incredibly close to the president leaving. who prompted it? and breaking news, we're learning more about a, quote, problem matt ek letter about jim comey revealing why donald trump

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breaking news, new details about the letter president trump planned to send to then fbi director jim comey explaining why he was firing him. that letter is now in the hands of robert muellerme. the letter was drafted by president trump himself. this original letter was actually never sent because it was blocked by trump's attorney, don mcgahn, who said it's angry and meandering tone was problematic. one of the new york times reporters who broke this story,

ser maggie, pretty amazing what you're finding here. tell me what you know, what was in this original letter. >> sure. this is my colleague michael schmidt and i reported on this earlier today. we have not seen a copy of this letter, so i want to be careful not to jump to its conclusions. we have had its contents described to us, particularly the tone. this was written over a long weekend where the president was alone with only his son-in-law, jared kushner, his oldest daughter ivanka trump and steven miller, his senior policy aid who has been with him for some time and who he trusts. there were not really other aids around. this is a few days after comey's may testimony and the president was very irritated by that tm. you recall that's where james comey felt slightly nauseated

that he may have played a role in the outcome of an election based on the clinton e-mail issue in 2016. the president constructed, you know, drafting with steven miller, steven miller was in the stenographer role, he was very angry with comey and displeased with how he handled it. t comey one, comey two, and comey three. they drafted this letter. the president showed up in the west wing on monday. having concluded he was going to fire comey, read this letter outloud and the white house counsel halted that as going out on its own, seeing a couple of

red flags. >> and those red flags, the tone here, as you describe it from your sources, maggie, angry and meandering. that don mcgahn felt you cannot send this letter. >> it was repetitive, according to sources. it really was essentially, you know, the raw, undistilled thoughts of the president on james comey, a man with whom he had growing dissatisfaction and had been thinking of firing since the transition. there was an oblique reference into possible russian collusion where the president referenced and i'm paraphrasing this, but it was essentially, you have privately told me i'm not under investigation. the president was very frustrated that comey would not make that public. and so frustrated that even though his lawyer suggested this should not be in there, rod rosenstein, the deputy attorney general produced his own memo. he had a copy of the president's draft. he then wrote his own memo,

which became the rational for while comey was being fired. the justice department was, in fact, looking at firing comey even before this happened. they were looking into his handling of the clinton e-mail investigation. there was a strange collision of events, essentially. but the president cared so much about the fact that comey would not say publically that he wasn't under investigation that he found a way to slip it into the final four paragraph version of the termination letter that he sent. >> john, let me ask you. what do you make of the fact that the president, president writes this. it is clear he wrote it. steven miller, his aid, is there, but essentially writing it down. he's in a sec tarl role. but the white house counsel said you can't send this. what is the significance of this, john? >> well, we don't know what's in the exact content. but what it suggests is

something more than editorial objection. in other words, that the white house counsel might have seen, one, the development of a conspiracy. he might have seen language that was inappropriate for a legal reason, which would be obstruction of justice. it is hard to tell. we're speculating. but the fact he objected is important to understand in that they didn't use this letter and then they went forward. but it may well show the intent at that time. >> david, how damaging could the letter be? >> we'll have to wait and see. i think we should be caution until we know the contents. but clearly what mueller is examining is exactly what john said. does it add to the weight of the argument that donald trump's real intent was to close down com comey? which could be sweinterpreted an obstruction of justice.

and they also don't want to let it go public. but i think, again, we ought to come down on the side of caution. but we do know, more fully now, that what donald trump all along has really really hated comey for is not hillary clinton. although, he very much objects to that. but what comey was doing to him and the investigation that comey was undertaking. >> does this change anything the fact that steven miller was involved. his is not a name that has come up in this broader russia investigation until now. >> well, it suggests another party involved. if there is enough here to show that he indeed became a participant in some agreement to help remove comey, that could put him across the line in an obstruction of justice. but again david is right we can't speculate this. it could also exonerate him. he may have notes surrounding it

from when he prepared that letter that will show one thing or the other. so it's too early to know exactly what it means. but it is true it's the first we have heard of miller being involved in this process. >> what about in terms of -- the president as we know after the letter that was actually delivered came out, told lester holt the whole russia thing was a problem. you know, so it was clear his motive, it wasn't just he was recommended to do this by rod rosenstein. he made that clear. but then he did in days afterwards at one point saying a week afterwards, i got a strong recommendation from the deputy attorney general to go ahead and fire jim comey. does your reporting the timing of this letter make it clear that any of that was possibly up true, that this is donald trump himself all the way and he put a sort of fig leaf in front of him. >> i want to echo what everyone else said, that we don't know what this means for the investigation, and i think that's crucially important to bear in mind, number one. but number two, we know donald

trump said to lester holt he already decided to fire comey even before that recommendation, and that is true. and that's what our reporting bore out. but what our reporting also did bear out is that rod rosenstein was looking at getting rid of comey even prior to that meeting in the white house on monday, may 8th. that was a real thing. it may turn out -- and again we have a lot to learn here -- >> but you are saying that was because of the clinton e-mails. >> indeed. i'm saying it may turn out that several things were true at once. what remains to be seen is what role the russia probe played in this and that president had that interview with lester holt. his aids have pushed back pretty hard on there was -- there were -- there was one quote where he said something to the effect of i had the russia -- i was thinking of the russia probe, you know, when i was ready to do this and he went on to say because it is a fake and excuse by democrats because they lost the election. his advisors see that as a

mitigating statement. we will see if mueller views it the same way. i do think there are multiple things going on here which in the source of michael schmidt's and my reporting really bore out. there were -- there was a strange confluence of events. >> well, i appreciate all of you very much coming on and thank you so much. of course maggie and michaels's reporting there. and he's out, a top trump confida confidant, his right hand man, calling it quits. why? and why now? after the storm, i will speak to a husband, a father who is not sure what to do or where to go now. >> this is the stuff you can't replace, right? i mean, this is -- these are my son's birth announcements. re? not if you want your phone to work. let me guess, can't livestream your lobster roll. and my mobile pay isn't connecting and i just got an unlimited plan. right plan, wrong network. you see, verizon has america's largest, most reliable

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breaking news, president trump's long time body guard and confidant out. he was the director of oval office operations, telling people he plans to leave the white house by herbal october. he says it's from financial concerns but he was also unhappy with john kelly's new rules. he is as close as it gets to donald trump. he's been with him since 1999. i can tell you in many times i have seen donald trump, he has been there every single time.

it was sh he rushed to the podium when a protester tried to two after trump on a stage and when trump got into it with vince mchahn back in 2007me. they go way back. david, look, this is a big departure, perhaps the biggest because the other ones have been people like the national security advisor. this is trump's right hand man and has been for decades. he is saying this is primarily for financial concerns. his salary at the what it house about $165,000. when he worked for trump he earned about $300,000. one source says he was frustrated with john kelly, that he had to go through the switchboard to call the president unstead of literally being by his side. >> i think both things may be true. people who know say he had

always planned to go back to new york after a year or so on the job. so this would be a little premature. but it is bt completely out of left field. but i also think it's true that if you have spent decades at the side of someone and now a new chief of staff comes in trying to impose a rational structure on the white house, which means really limiting paeople's acces to the right tupresident, it ca chafe. >> one former aid said he was the most underestimated person on trump's team. i can tell you over the many years that i interacted with donald trump professionally, keith was not just a body guard. he was more than that. friend may be too strong of a word but as close perhaps as anyone gets to that word with

donald trump. here he is in a rare time, in his own words on his relationship with trump. >> had a great rapport with mr. trump and i still have a great relationship. great boss to work for. i have nothing but good things to say about him. >> how big of a loss is this for the president to legal cause os david? >> i would guess it is a very big loss. every president needs some people around him with who he has absolute trust, someone who understands his id you sin krasys and understands his preferences and someone he females he can provide without any guardedness. and he clearly was one of those people for donald trump. and remember there has been a par rid of peopade of people wh white house recently. i will say his daughter and son-in-law remain and he is obviously close to them ft but

that is not like the staffer. barack obama had reggie love and marvin was his trip director. they were companions and understood how the president wanted things done. they understood how he relaxed and so on. and it was very important to him to have them at his side. so i imagine that the president will miss keith very much and it may had to this sense of isolation that we hear he's feeling these days. >> all right. thank you so much and thank you for that word, companion. that's the word i was looking for. next, starting over. what do you do when everything is gone? your home, your life, it's just gone. my next guest just returned to his water logged home. he's going to try to answer that question. labor day?nture this holy smokes. oh man, that's pretty intense. look no further than chevrolet.

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and new or worsening heart failure. before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if you've had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores. don't start humira if you have an infection. ready for a new chapter? talk to your rheumatologist about humira. this is humira at work. breaking news. a fire raging at that chemical plant just outside of houston. locals have been evacuated in a 1 1/2 mile zone around the plant, as the black smoke plumes go into the air. it appears unclear what toxic chemicals could be in that smoke. back in houston, some families are trying to come home for the first time. >> there's going to be a mailbox right over here. >> we were with one houston father when he was able to get

back into his home. he described the painful reality. >> the worst part is the personal. i mean, this is the stuff you can't replace, right? these are my son's birth announcements. i mean -- >> which of your sons? >> mine. >> what are you preparing for? >> preparations are hard right now at this point. i guess we're prepared we might not ever be back here. >> joining me now is bill wolf. bill, gosh, it's hard to watch that. i can't imagine how you must have felt. i know you had to go back in there. i know you didn't have your wife or kids when you went back. how are you and your family doing? >> hi, erin. we're doing okay. every day is an adventure here. today is a better day than yesterday. my kids are safe, my wife is

safe. that's all we can hope for at the moment. we're very blessed and fortunate we made it through everything okay. there's a lot of people that have much worse situations than us, and we're hoping and praying and doing everything we can for them now. so we're making it through okay, thank you. >> bill, we saw you, you were with alex when you went into the room where your family photos were. that was a moving moment. all those pictures of your children, your albums. were you able to save some of that? >> you know, we -- we didn't have much warning when the water was coming up. there was -- we had lost power for several hours before sunday night. so the last communication we had, which is really spotty, is our neighborhood wasn't going to get flooded. so when it started coming, it started rising about a foot an hour. it came into the house really

quickly. it was about 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning. so our children were asleep downstairs. so we got them to safety. we took everything we could and put it about four feet up, took the very important stuff and put it upstairs, and pretty quickly we ended up having to evacuate. we had lost water, sewer, power. and cell communications were spotty. at that point, a dear friend of ours came over in his boat, or he mobilized his boat and we got what we could, put in a couple of garbage bags and we evacuated to our friends house. >> i know you tried to save some things and you're blessed to have that. but you did lose a lot. your television, your furniture. >> we did. >> the things of life, your car. how are you even starting, where are you even starting to try to rebuild? because you have to do it and you have to do it fast.

>> well, you know, we were taking care of the essentials. we've got such wonderful people in our lives. over the last three days, we've been so blessed with having the care and support of our family and friends, and of absolute strangers who have put themselves in harm's way to pull us out of it. we are blessed and so fortunate to be surrounded by so many wonderful people in our lives. there are a couple of tough moments for us where, you know, during the evacuation, we were stuck. we couldn't get out. we had four feet of water. we had two little kids. we had some stranger named lance in a pickup truck and drive us to safety. so you go through and you lose stuff and it's stuff. that's what it is. and some of that stuff is important, but you know, you're blessed with your safety.

my children are staff, my wife is safe, i'm safe, our friends are safe. there are people that aren't and we need to focus on helping them and everything else will sort out. right now we're just doing one day at a time, and we're doing the best we can. >> bill, thank you very much. and good luck to you and your wife and your two little boys. thank you. >> thank you. i appreciate that, erin. and tonight, there are victims of harvey in one texas town that say they feel forgotten, wharton, texas, about 60 miles from houston. you haven't seen it, and it's under water. 60% of the town flooded, residents in need of help. martin savidge is there. >> reporter: wharton is marooned. flood waters are on just about every road in and out of this town of 9,000. it's been like that since waterways poured out of their

banks, flooding 60% of the time. how fast did it come up? >> an hour. an hour from the time i talked to him everybody was out of there. it was quick. >> reporter: the heart of the town is filled with water. folks here are just trying to make due. richard brown and his son, alex, were out checking on family and searching for food. >> most of the staples are out. milk, bread, they just got a shipment. we got lucky. a lot of the aisles are empty. low on meat, eggs. eggs are gone. >> reporter: they gave us some video of what their home looks like. >> there's our house. every square inch of the yard is submerged. >> reporter: groceries and gas are in short supply. the two shelters that jessie and her husband and cats, they prefer to live out of their truck. >> my husband sleeps in the truck. i make a palate on the tailgate

and sleep on the tailgate. that's where i sleep. it works for me. 's nice and cool. >> reporter: the couple fled houston and came to wharton to stay with a friend. >> we came from roseberg and we were here one day. i got a nice hot bath, dinner. the next morning, my husband and them went to get cigarettes. came back and water was everywhere. >> reporter: now they all sit in the shade, waiting for the water to go down. do you think towns like this are overlooked? >> yes, i do. where's everyone? where's fema? you need a mace to stplace to s? it's not here. >> reporter: the red cross and national guard are here. still, residents are feeling overwhelmed and overlooked, lost in all of the focus on houston. >> there's a lot of people even in neighboring towns that aren't even aware that we're still flooded, that we cannot access parts of our town, and that people are still displaced. >> reporter: do you feel

forgotten, overlooked? >> absolutely. sometimes you do feel forgotten. >> reporter: fortunately what wharton has is people like kelsey. after hearing about the flood, she came racing back to help. you are like a whirl wind. >> i'm trying to keep up. i wish i had ten phones and a hundred voices to get the word out. >> reporter: she's got temperatures going up and a food truck coming in. >> yesterday, we fed 400 people. today we're hoping to feed much more than that. >> i've never seen such outpouring of help as i have in wharton. >> amazing that community coming together. martin, what's the message if the town people want watching tonight? >> reporter: they want people to know they made it through okay. nobody in this town died and they're doing pretty good. but the water is going down. that's the good news. they're going to need a lot of help rebuilding and starting all over again. so if you're hearing this and

wondering what you can do, come on down to wharton, they say. we can use every hand. >> reporter: martin savidge, thank you very much. and thanks to you for joining us. our breaking news coverage continues now with "ac 360." houston. a week after hurricane harvey came ashore, the reminders that this is not over keep coming and there's a new one that just happened. explosions and a massive fire at the chemical plant 25 miles northeast of houston. it began with flooding, followed by a power outage, and the equipment to keep explosive chemicals cool shut down. early yesterday morning came the first fire. late today, a large explosion, followed by the large fire that has thankfully died down again. for obvious reasons, cnn's brian todd is not here but joins us with the latest. what do we know exactly about this fire? >> reporter: we can